Donald Trump's Meeting with The Washington Post Was Either Funny or Depressing; Can't Decide

He, Trump dropped by to chat with The Washington Post's editorial board—also d/b/a Fred Hiatt's Rescue Mission for Unrepentant Torturers—and, to its credit, the newspaper released the complete transcripts of the meeting, probably to prevent bootleg copies from leaking as if they were the political Basement Tapes. Because the meeting was just freaking awesome.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

"There's a racial division that's incredible actually in the country. I think it's as bad, I mean you have to say it's as bad or almost as bad as it's ever been. And there's a lack of spirit. And one thing I thought that would happen, and it hasn't happened, unfortunately, I thought that President Obama would be a great cheerleader for the country. And it just hasn't happened. I mean we can say it has. But it hasn't happened. When you look at the Ferguson problems and the Baltimore problems and the Detroit problems. And you know there's a lack of spirit. I actually think I'd be a great cheerleader—beyond other things, the other things that I'd do—I actually think I'd be a great cheerleader for the country. Because a lot of people feel it's a hopeless situation."

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar! All for vulgar talking yams, stand up and holler.

HIATT: Well, forget Freddie Gray, but in general, do you believe there are disparities in law enforcement?

TRUMP: I've read where there are and I've read where there aren't. I mean, I've read both. And, you know, I have no opinion on that. Because frankly, what I'm saying is you know we have to create incentives for people to go back and to reinvigorate the areas and to put people to work. And you know we have lost million and millions of jobs to China and other countries.

Disparities in law enforcement? Job losses to China! Sequitur? Non!

RYAN: But how would you fix that? You've said that you would open up the libel laws.

TRUMP: What I would do, what I would do is I'd—well right now the libel laws, I mean I must tell you that the Hulk Hogan thing was a tremendous shock to me because—not only the amount and the fact that he had the victory—because for the most part I think libel laws almost don't exist in this country, you know, based on, based on everything I've seen and watched and everything else, and I just think that if a paper writes something wrong—media, when I say paper I'm talking about media. I think that they can do a retraction if they're wrong. They should at least try to get it right. And if they don't do a retraction, they should, they should you know have a form of a trial. I don't want to impede free press, by the way. The last thing I would want to do is that. But I mean I can only speak for—I probably get more—do I, I mean, you would know, do I get more publicity than any human being on the earth?

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

While I realize that saying this may one day subject me to "some sort of trial," can I point out that this is just nuts?

Let us pause for a moment to allow one of Trump's associated hooligans to have a say.

LEWANDOWSKI: —please do not engage these protesters. You know, they may cause a disturbance. Please do your best, let local law enforcement handle this or security at that venue. The problem becomes, with a massive crowd of twenty or thirty or forty thousand people, the resources that are there don't have the ability to get to all these people in a manner before the crowd reacts, because the agitators are inciting those people. So we are very clear at the onset, that there is a loud public notice that says, "please do not engage these people, please let them do their job, and let the local law enforcement deal with that." That's said at the very front end at every event.

I would add a warning that said, "Please try to avoid Corey Lewandowski," but that's just me.

(I would add here that the discussion of Trump and the media went on about twice as long as it should have. Fred Hiatt knows what Fred Hiatt thinks the important issues are.)

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

TRUMP: Look, I see NATO as a good thing to have—I look at the Ukraine situation and I say, so Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we are doing all of the lifting, they're not doing anything. And I say, why is it that Germany is not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of the Ukraine not dealing with—why are we always the one that's leading, potentially the third world war, okay, with Russia? Why are we always the ones that are doing it? And I think the concept of NATO is good, but I do think the United States has to have some help. We are not helped. I'll give you a better example than that. I mean, we pay billions—hundreds of billions of dollars to supporting other countries that are in theory wealthier than we are.

Ruh-roh?

HIATT: This theory of unpredictability, I want to push a little bit, I mean—there are many people who think that North Korea invaded South Korea precisely because Acheson wasn't clear that we would defend South Korea. So I'm curious, does ambiguity sometimes have dangers?

It's about here where I started to sympathize a bit with He, Trump. Fred Hiatt's talking about Dean Acheson is one nightmare too many for one lifetime. Hiatt, after all, is the guy who waved the pompoms until his arms fell off in support of C-Plus Augustus's excellent adventure—the casus belli for which was, at best, ambiguous.

In a pair of interim staff reports, the Sept. 11 commission yesterday gave the fullest and most detailed report on the planning of the attacks that the American public has received to date. Yet showing a peculiar instinct for the capillaries rather than the jugular, part of the public debate immediately focused on a single passing point that is no kind of revelation at all: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."Administration foes seized on this sentence to claim that Vice President Cheney has been lying, as recently as this week, about a purported relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. The accusation is nearly as irresponsible as the Bush administration's rhetoric has been.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Fred Hiatt's editorial page printed this nonsense on June 17, 2004. Based on the available evidence, Fred Hiatt is just about as deft a foreign-policy thinker as He, Trump is. The conversation turned back to NATO and to the cost of American military bases around the world, and the board seemed gobsmacked by the fact that He, Trump questioned certain imperial imperatives.

TRUMP: I think NATO as a concept is good, but it is not as good as it was when it first evolved. And I think we bear the, you know, not only financially, we bear the biggest brunt of it. Obama has been stronger on the Ukraine than all the other countries put together, and those other countries right next door to the Ukraine. And I just say we have, I'm not even knocking it, I'm just saying I don't think it's fair, we're not treated fair. I don't think we're treated fair, Charles, anywhere. If you look everything we have. You know, South Korea is very rich. Great industrial country. And yet we're not reimbursed fairly for what we do. We're constantly, you know, sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games, doing other. We're reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing.

LANE: You know, well, they say and I think this is on public record, it's basically 50 percent of the non-personnel cost is paid by South Korea and Japan.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

TRUMP: 50 percent?

LANE: Yeah.

TRUMP: Why isn't it 100 percent?

HIATT: Well I guess the question is, does the United States gain anything by having bases?

TRUMP: Personally I don't think so. I personally don't think so. Look. I have great relationships with South Korea. I have buildings in South Korea. But that's a wealthy country. They make the ships, they make the televisions, they make the air conditioning. They make tremendous amounts of products. It's a huge, it's a massive industrial complex country. And—

HIATT: So you don't think the US gains from being the force that sort of that helps keep the peace in the Pacific?

TRUMP: I think that we are not in the position that we used to be. I think we were a very powerful, very wealthy country. And we're a poor country now. We're a debtor nation. How you going to get rid—let me ask you—how are you going get rid of $21 trillion in debt? You're going to be at 21 trillion in a matter of minutes because of that new omnibus budget. So they passed that ridiculous omnibus budget. How you going to get rid of that debt. We're spending that to protect other countries. We're not spending it on ourselves.

They're talking geopolitical theory. He's talking money, the basic language of all Americans. This was quite the exchange. It's like listening to Kissinger trying to get a car loan.

RYAN: This is about ISIS. You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?

[CROSSTALK]

TRUMP: I'll tell you one thing, this is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I'm talking to?

I just…no, I got nothing.

Of course, at the end, He, Trump decided to engage in what sounds like some lighthearted sexual harassment of one of the editors at the meeting. This is a great fcking country.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Esquire participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.